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Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Things to share

I just wanted to share this picture of my little cowboy. I think he had too much fun. This morning he was a bundle of energy and wanted to put his costume back on. Yes, I broke down and let him have his guns. There were ground rules of course - which he complied with sorda'. I unfortunately had class last night and missed the festivities. Audrey was a great substitute though. Zander told me that they went to four more houses when she got there.

Zander's Godparents have a duaghter Zander's age and she dressed as a ladybug. I stopped by their house and saw Grace's little costume earlier in the day. It was Sonia's first costume to sew and she did a great job. She even bound the black dots on the red background by following the edges with a zig zag stitch. She had a little black cap with antenna on it made from black pipecleaners and black pompom's.

There are a few reason's I love homemade costumes. The first being my own gratification from doing a project for someone I love. The other reason I love them is that they tend to be longer lasting so the kids can put them in their costume box for play time and wear them over and over again. It sparks immagination play and increases learning. Zander wants to know everything about cowboys and being able to imulate one in imagination play makes it that much better. When Zander gets older and looks through his scrapbooks he'll see that he had the best costumes because they were made with love and care.

Last night in class we covered mulitculturalism. Just another term for cultural diversity or cultural tolerance. I was expecting another heated argument night because that's what tends to happen when we talk about cultural issues with this group of people. I don't know if it was the way that the material was presented or what, but the arguments were at a minimum. I was having an issue with a few minor things that were discussed early on. We were talking about Dominant Culture verses Emerging Culture. As she was defining them I was thinking - I am definitely part of the Dominant Culture. Any way she had us do an exercise where we were to identify Dominant / Emerging Culture in news articles. Now this was not difficult to do, but I noticed that all of the articles were Emerging. I wanted to know her explanation for this, but thought that it was not the focus of class so I would not ask. So here's my thoughts. The people who write the newspaper (at least here) are looking for a big sensational story to drum up hype. The way that the articles were written is to hook the reader into thinking there's some big injustice in the world that needs their undivided attention. (Don't get me wrong. There are some of those out there.) I also think that the writers are part of the Emerging Culture and reflect their own interests in their articles. It is rare that a truly unbiased report comes out of the media - apparently people find that boring and want to be told how to think. So the big question is are there more people in the Dominant Culture or in the Emerging Culture, and which way do you think things are going to go? I think the Dominat Culture has been Dominant for a long time for a reason and is not going anywhere. I also think that the media likes to make us believe that the Emerging Culture is more prominant than it really is to try and get their way more often.

BTW - one of the articles was over this issue being voted on here in Texas over the definition of marriage. Can't wait to see where that ends up. Travis County will probably vote it down while Williamson County will approve it. Though things are becoming a little more progressive in Williamson County, they're not ready to allow same sex marriage. Though I'm not sure about the need for government to define marraige for the purpose of regulation I do have a thought about government being involved at all in this. If the government is going to tax me based on my marital status then they need to define it for that purpose. That does not mean necessarily that they need to license marriages, but it's a handy way to make sure that the marriage meets their definition. Other than that I think marriage is defined by your cultural beliefs (mainly religious beliefs). The question then comes about those with no religious entity to grant the marriage. That's where the internet has come in handy. There are all sorts of ways to become an ordained minister of whatever religion and be able to perform marriages. Don't you love the freedoms that the Emerging Culture uses on a regular basis? A lot of people are arguing that to not vote this ammendment into place would deteriorate the sancticty of marriage - I think culture has already started that for us. People marry and divorce out of convenience. This idea that self enjoyment is the most important thing has also corrupted marriage. It allows people to justify adultry, and divorce. People choose to cheat on their spouses or divorce their spouse because they're not happy - they're not getting anything out of it. Well you get out what you put in. Relationships are not meant to be easy. They are meant to be a way to connect with other people who have their own thoughts and ideas. To learn from eachother. We are to give of ourselves to others for their own enjoyment, not ask others what they can do for us. OK I'm riled up enough for one day. I'm going to get to work on my portfolio. Maybe read a book about my Dominant Culture views.

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